Rebuilding the I-65/I-70 north split is 'bigger than Lucas Oil Stadium'

A group of businesses, neighborhoods, neighbors and civic organizations announced Thursday that they were creating a coalition to oppose the rebuilding of the I-65/I-70 north slip through Downtown Indianapolis.(Photo11: Amy Bartner / IndyStar)Buy Photo

More than 50 neighborhood groups, citizens, business and civic organizations have created a coalition opposing INDOT's plan to rebuild and upgrade the decaying I-65/I-70 north split that splices Downtown Indianapolis.

The Rethink 65/70 Coalition, announced Thursday at a press conference, agrees there's a better way to replace the interstate that would undo the harm caused when it was built about 50 years ago, creating barriers through Downtown neighborhoods. They're hoping affected residents and businesses will call on Gov. Eric Holcomb to lead an independent study to find the best alternative.

Young & Laramore, like many of the organizations involved in the Rethink 65/70 Coalition, borders the interstate.

The roads need to be replaced in some form. There are 32 rapidly deteriorating bridges in the split and roads that accommodate about upwards of 200,000 cars daily.

It's just a matter of how.

"The Rethink 65/70 Coalition believes there is a legacy-level opportunity to leverage the urban interstate effort to create what could be the most important influence on quality of life in Central Indiana for the next 50 years," architect and coalition leader Mark Beebe said. "We also know through studies of similar highway projects in cities across the country that the right design approach doesn't have to mean it will cost more."

INDOT is in the early stages of its estimated $250 million plan to rebuild the split, widening some of the roadways and bridges, and adding concrete walls where grass slopes exist. INDOT began planning last fall, and is now examining any potential environmental impacts, such as noise and pollution.

"That was the original construction project," INDOT spokesman Andy Dietrick said. "That's our starting point, because we had a purpose and need."

But in January, the yet-to-be-named coalition began campaigning against the plan to reconstruct the original infrastructure. They approached INDOT and city and state leaders with alternatives. Those included moving traffic below ground to open up more land for development or removing the highways that cross through Downtown altogether and incorporating roundabouts and boulevards as some other cities like Portland, Milwaukee or Dallas have done.

Detrick said INDOT added those and other options into the investigative process when public complaints came in January.

"We did what they asked, and I would've assumed they would've been satisfied with that, but it sounds like not," Dietrick said. "We've adjusted our timeline considerably. We had to expand our thinking on this and had to look at things we didn't look at initially."

The initial outcry to the plan, Dietrick said, came from misinformation and renderings that INDOT did not create. Those began circulating through the community, before a plan had been finalized.

He said isn't sure how many alternatives INDOT is investigating, but an outline and direction of a plan will begin to formalize in June. Then, meetings will be held for public input.

Those meetings, he stressed, won't include a vote. They'll be forums for INDOT to hear feedback. By September the preferred design choice will be selected and construction is likely to begin in 2020, Dietrick said.

Those who are opposed the plan should act now, Young & Laramore's Knapp said.

"After that, the public input will only be about mitigation: lipstick on a pig," he said. "The time to truly rethink 65/70 is now."